


What's in a name?

by thehaikubandit



Series: A Small Step For Man, A Kick in the Face for a Giant Monster [1]
Category: Pacific Rim (2013), The Martian (2015), The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-12
Updated: 2016-05-12
Packaged: 2018-06-08 02:00:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6834451
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thehaikubandit/pseuds/thehaikubandit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of Martian, Pacific Rim au stories. Because I love both of these things to death and I really liked the idea of the Ares Three crew fighting monsters together. I have decided to make this a series rather than an ongoing work.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a name?

 It was two years after the formation of the PPDC that NASA gave up on getting funding. No one had the money or resources to spare for space travel when the planet was literally under attack by aliens. But they took it well. Deciding that fighting aliens came under a space program they set up their own branch, using their existing staff and infrastructure, and reporting to the PPDC.  
  
They took the team that they had been preparing for Ares Three and decided instead to use them as pilots. Because they had been selected on the basis that they would need to get on with each other for a long space mission, they were all drift compatible. It meant that even though NASA could staff three jaegers, they could mix and match the pilots as needed.  
  
Four months later the jaegers were built, the pilots trained and they were putting the final touches on the operation. All they needed now were the names.  
  
They tried putting it to a public vote, but after Jaeger 2.0, Jaeger McJaeger and Moves Like won the  polls that idea was promptly scrapped. Instead they thought they would give the crew a turn. Lewis could have told you that giving Mark Watney the chance to name a giant robot would never be a good idea, but these were the same people who trusted the public to name their jaegers. In her defence, she tried to keep them on track.  
  
“I want to name one Solanum Tuberosum,” Watney began.  
  
“No,” the others said in unison. Mark started to ramble about the value of potatoes as a food source and their importance in the new ration system.  
  
“Can we just name one Ares Three?” asked Vogel. “That is who we are after all.”  
  
“I want to name one Hal.” said Mark.  
  
“No.” said Johanssen. “You can't joke about that. But... we could name one R2D2.”  
  
The rest of them joined in.  
  
“Marvin!”  
  
“K-9!”  
  
“WALL-E!”  
  
“Iron Man!”  
  
“Astro Boy!”  
  
“If you're bringing in anime, at least use Evangelion. They are more similar to jaegers, and we have three of them.”  
  
“Vogel you always continue to surprise us,” Beck said.  
  
“Ok,” said Lewis. “We need names in two parts, hyphens don't count and we can't use anything that we can be sued for.”  
  
“Well that rules everything out,” said Martinez.  
  
“Why not just give up and call one Hermes Actual?” asked Johanssen. “If we're going to be boring.”  
  
“Why don't we start by thinking about what they are?” suggested Lewis. “What makes them different, what will we be to the kaiju?”  
  
“People burrito,” said Martinez promptly. Watney fell off his chair laughing and Johanssen turned faintly green.  
  
“We could try naming them after Apollo 11?” said Beck. “I mean, we are still NASA.”  
  
“Beck wants to be inside Neil Armstrong,” staged whispered Watney to Johanssen. Beck went red and refused to contribute anything else.  
  
In the end they presented:  
  
1\. Scientific Curiosity  
2\. Titan Arum  
3\. Ares Three  
  
To absolutely nobodies surprise Annie put her foot down and the jaegers were named for them.  
  
Hermes' Staff, Ares' Spear and Athena's Shield fought their first battle two weeks later against a Category Three named Fang off the coast of Costa Rica.  
  
Hermes' Staff was the fastest of the three, and was one of the fastest jaegers built. Ares' Spear was slower, but built like a tank. And Athena's Shield? Well, that one was special.  
  
She had the most advanced computing power of any jaeger. Johanssen had used her for her pet project. It wasn't an AI exactly, she would explain to anyone who would listen. Just an advanced program that was more like a supercomputer. It tried to predict a kaiju's movements and would suggest strategies for the teams that would update continuously during the fight. All jaegers had advanced computer systems, but Athena was an attempt to drastically step it up. The main problem they had with the system was getting Watney to stop calling it Jarvis.  
  
Ares Three were the most versatile of the teams, and this gave them a massive advantage. From their first mission in 2017 to 2024 they took down a combined total of 16 kaiju. It also made them lucky. While the jaegers were damaged beyond any hope of repair and consigned to Oblivion Bay, the crew all survived. They never quite shook the hope of seeing space, but at the end of the day played a large part in saving the world.


End file.
